Getting started

This guide walks you through your first hour with serp.ac: creating a project, adding the first keywords and AI prompts, turning on alerts and learning what each part of the sidebar does. It's for anyone who has just signed up, whether you run one site or manage many clients.

Everything in serp.ac lives inside a project. A project is one website (one domain) with its brand names, competitors, country and language. Rank tracking, AI visibility, backlinks, link management, site audits and reports all hang off that project.

Plans and the free trial

You need an active plan or a free trial before you can create a project. Every plan (Starter $39, Pro $129, Agency $349 per month) can be tried free for 7 days. A card is required to start, and if you cancel before the trial ends you aren't charged. Plans differ in how many projects, keywords, AI prompts, AI engines and links you get. See Billing and plans for the details, add-ons and the money-back guarantee.

Create your first project

1. Open All projects in the sidebar (or open the dashboard) and click New project. On a brand-new account you'll see Create your first project instead.
2. Fill in the form:
   • Project name – any label you like, for example the company name.
   • Domain – the site you want to track, such as acme.com. Rankings, AI citations and backlinks are matched against this domain.
   • Brand names – comma-separated names that are unique to you (for example "Acme CRM"). We look for these in AI answers. Don't add a product category or another company's brand. Your domain counts as a brand name automatically.
   • Competitor domains – comma-separated, for example competitor1.com, competitor2.com. They get their own columns in rank tracking and appear in AI share of voice.
   • Country – the market you sell in. New keywords use it as their default location.
   • Language – the language your customers search in. AI prompts are suggested and checked in this language. When you pick a country, the language is filled in for you until you change it yourself.
3. Click Create project. You land on the project's Overview page.

You can change any of these later under Project → Project settings. If you edit brand names or competitors, the AI answers you already have are re-analyzed for free.

The Getting started checklist

The Getting started card on your dashboard and project overview ticks off each step automatically once the real data exists:

1. Create a project. Done as soon as you have one.
2. Add keywords to track. Add at least one keyword under Project → SERP tracking. See Rank tracking.
3. Add AI prompts. Type at least one prompt, or use Discover prompts, under Project → AI visibility. See AI visibility.
4. Add a purchased link (optional). If you buy backlinks, add one under Project → Link management. See Purchased links. Skip it if you don't buy links.
5. Set up notifications. Connect Telegram, add a Slack or Discord webhook, or save your preferences with at least one alert turned on in Settings → Notifications. Email alerts are on by default, and saving your choices confirms them. See Notifications.
6. Connect Google Search Console. Connect a project to its Search Console property. See Search Console.
7. Create a Maps rankings campaign (optional). Set up a local-grid campaign if local search matters to you. See Maps rankings.
8. Install the Chrome extension. The step is ticked when you click I've installed it, or automatically the first time the extension connects with your API key. See Chrome extension.

The progress bar only counts the required steps, so optional steps never hold you back. Each step's How it works link opens the guide for that module, and Hide checklist hides the card for you. Once every required step is done you'll see a short celebration, and then the checklist disappears. Team members see the account's checklist, but steps their role can't do are read-only. On your very first dashboard visit, a short Welcome window points you to the checklist; it appears only once.

A tour of the sidebar

Under Project (for the project you've selected):

• Overview – a summary of rankings, AI visibility, backlinks, purchased links and recent activity.
• SERP tracking – daily Google positions for your keywords. Guide
• Maps rankings – local-grid rankings in Google Maps. Guide
• AI visibility – whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Claude mention and cite you. Guide
• Backlinks – your backlink profile and the links competitors have that you don't. Guide
• Link management – monitoring for the links you've paid for. Guide
• Site audit – a crawl of your site with a health score. Guide
• AI readiness – whether AI crawlers can reach and understand your site. Guide
• Search Console – real clicks and impressions from Google. Guide
• Reports – white-label reports you can share or email. Guide
• Project settings – edit the project details or delete the project.

Under Tools: All projects lists every project, and Indexing submits URLs for indexing and checks whether Google has indexed them (guide). Referrals lets you earn account credit by recommending serp.ac.

Under Account: Notifications, Announcements, Billing and Settings. Settings has tabs for Account, Notifications, Integrations, Team, API and Branding.

Change the app language

Open Settings → Account and choose a Language. You can also change it from the profile menu in the top-right corner. The language applies to the app, your emails and your notifications. It's separate from a project's language, which controls the language AI prompts are written and checked in.

Tips

• Start with SERP tracking and AI visibility. They show you right away where you stand in Google and in AI answers.
• Add two or three real competitors when you create the project. Competitor columns and share of voice are much more useful with them.
• Run AI readiness once early on. It takes a few seconds and often turns up a blocked crawler or a missing llms.txt.
• Connect Search Console so you can turn the queries that already bring clicks into tracked keywords.

FAQ

Do I need a card for the free trial?

Yes. A card is required to start the 7-day trial, but nothing is charged during it. Cancel before it ends and you won't be charged. Otherwise the plan's monthly price is charged automatically when the trial ends. See Billing and plans.

Which modules should I start with?

Add your most important keywords in SERP tracking and a handful of buyer questions in AI visibility (Discover prompts writes them for you). Then set up notifications so you hear about big changes. Everything else can wait until you need it.

Can my team use the same account?

Yes. Invite people from Settings → Team as an admin, editor or viewer. The number of seats depends on your plan. See Team.

Can I change the domain, competitors or language later?

Yes, under Project → Project settings. Changing brand names, the domain or competitors re-analyzes the AI answers you already have at no cost.

Where do I get help?

Every module has a small ? icon in its header that opens the guide for that module. The full user guide covers each module. If you're still stuck, write to us via the contact page.